How We Purchase Gift Cards at a Discount to Save Money on the Things We Already Buy

*This post may contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through or make a purchase.

I was originally going to hop on today and post about our financial situation since I quit my job, but as I started typing that post, I realized that I never shared with you one of our favorite ways that we save money!  I know a lot of you have been waiting for the financial post, so don’t you worry… it’ll be up next week!

Today I want to talk to you about a little app called Raise.  Have you ever heard of it?  Basically, it’s an app that you can use to buy gift cards at a discount and you can also sell gift cards that you don’t want.  Keep reading to get $5 off of your first purchase!

Buying Gift Cards at a Discount

Raise offers gift cards from thousands and thousands of retailers and restaurants at anywhere from 5-25% off.  The app is free to use and it is very simple to use as well.  All you have to do is click here, sign up, and then you can search for retailers/restaurants in which you are interested.  Raise will then show all of the gift cards that they have available for that store and what percentage you would save on each. 

For example, when we searched for Bath and Body Works today, this is what came up:

The best deal today is that you can get a $98.58 gift card for just $89.54 which is a savings of 9.2%. 

When we searched for H&M, this is what came up:

Their best deal today is that you can get a $90.95 gift card for only $70.30!!!!  That is a savings of 22.7%!!  That’s a good one!

When we searched for Panera, these are the deals that were available:

Their best deal today is that you can get a $50.00 gift card for $47.02 which is a savings of 6%.   

Once you have found the gift cards you want to purchase, you just add them to your cart and then check out using your choice of payment method.  Raise will then ship physical gift cards to your house FOR FREE (a little truck icon indicates it will be shipped), or if it is an electronic gift card, they will send it straight to your app so you can use it on your phone immediately (no truck icon indicates it is an e-card).

B and I have started using the app to purchase gift cards at a discount for places that we frequent, and then we use the gift cards to make our every day purchases.  Since they have the electronic gift card option for some stores, if I know I’m about to go somewhere specific to shop, we will check out Raise first to see if there are any electronic gift cards available at a discount that we can use immediately. 

We have been using Raise for over a year now and we are currently saving an average of 8.8% on everything that we purchase using Raise.  This translates to hundreds and hundreds of dollars saved on the things that we already buy!

Here are the stores that we have purchased gift cards for through the Raise app:

Retailers/Grocery Stores

Nordstrom

Target

Old Navy

At Home

Bath & Body Works

AMC Theatres

Walmart

Lowe’s

Netflix

Rack Room Shoes

Advance Auto Parts

Autozone

Chevron

Fresh Market

CVS

Walgreens

Ticketmaster

Restaurants

Chipotle

Starbucks

Chick-Fil-A

Carabba’s

Outback Steakhouse

Chuck E. Cheese

Cracker Barrel

Dairy Queen

Olive Garden

Panera

They have pretty much everything!! 

The app also allows you to add stores to a favorites list for easy shopping and you can also set alerts for specific stores and specific percentages off.  For example, if you wanted to purchase an Old Navy gift card and you wanted to purchase it for at least 10% off, you can set those parameters in your app and Raise will send you an alert if one becomes available. 

They also run special promos from time to time where you can purchase gift cards for an additional percentage off which saves you even more money!

Selling Gift Cards

Ever receive a gift card for a store or restaurant that you either a) don’t like or b) don’t have in your city?  Well, instead of letting it go to waste, you can sell them on Raise and then purchase gift cards that you will actually use!  B and I have yet to use this feature because the opportunity hasn’t yet arisen for this, but it’s good to know it’s available in case we’re ever in a situation where we need it. 

Signing Up

Signing up is easy and FREE and if you use our referral link here, you can get $5 off of your first order!!!!  And if you make a purchase within 30 days of signing up, I will get $5, too!  :o)

One final thing to note before I go is that we do get the occasional bad gift card, meaning that we will purchase a gift card on Raise and then when we receive the card, the balance is $0.00.  If this ever happens to you, all you have to do is call Raise customer service and they will refund your money, no questions asked.  They offer a money back guarantee on gift cards for one year, so it’s probably best to spend all of them within a year just in case.  We have had this happen a few times and they have refunded our money every single time.  B said that their customer service is top notch… he said that every single time he’s had to call they have refunded our money immediately and we didn’t even have to return the gift card or give any kind of proof.  They just take your word for it.  Quick and painless!

Because this does happen every so often, my advice to you is to check the balances on your gift cards right when you receive them, and then check the balances again right before you use them to ensure they are still good. 

We love Raise so much and we know you will, too!  It’s just one more effortless way that we are saving money!  AND DID I MENTION THAT IT’S FREE?! 

SIGN UP HERE, Y’ALL!

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